A HOCKEY pitch, a solar farm and rock netting on the Rhigos Mountain Road are among the projects that are set to benefit from nearly £20m in extra funding over the next three years in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
The additional funding worth £19.2m could be approved by cabinet on Wednesday, February 21 as part of the wider capital programme for the next three years and will also see money spent on things like roads, dealing with flooding, parks and play areas.
The spend includes:
- £5.05m for highways maintenance
- £2m for unadopted roads
- £1m for highways structures
- £1.4m for Rhigos Mountain Road rock netting
- £1m for flood alleviation
- £25,000 for bins
- £250,000 for parks structures
- £1.39m for parks and green spaces
- £305,000 for country parks investment
- £350,000 for play areas
- £225,000 for multi-use games areas (MUGAs)
- £7.38m for the Coed Ely Solar Farm
- £350,000 for the Hawthorn hockey pitch
- £350,000 for leisure fitness equipment
The council has kept an investment and infrastructure reserve for a number of years to fund the cost of maintaining and enhancing infrastructure across RCT.
As at March 31, 2023 this was worth £24.95m with £7.73m having already been released so there is £17.22m available to fund further investment priorities, a council report said.
An invest to save reserve has also been kept to fund opportunities as and when they arise, including investment in carbon reduction and renewable energy projects which results in a reduction in energy costs and/or additional income for the council.
The balance of this reserve at March 31, 2023 was £6.88m, of which £4.021m has been committed to projects leaving £2.86m available.
A total of £2.084m has been carried over from last year which the report said can be reprioritised without adversely impacting on wider programme delivery whilst maintaining the new core programme.
This means the total extra funding available is worth £24.31m with £5.02m being kept in the investment and infrastructure reserve.
The total three year capital programme up to 2027 is worth £165.63m with a core programme over the three years of £42.54m.
